I have read about putting the Prius into inspection mode to shut down the ridiculous overkill traction control on the 2nd generation Prius. My 5 2nd generation prius get stuck too easy . I have read the warnings about not driving in inspection mode because of possible transaxle damage and am wondering if it is ok to put it into inspection mode to get unstuck and then put the car back into regular mode. Very embarrassing some of the places the Prius has had me stuck because of no ability to shut the traction control down like I can with my 2010's
No, it is not safe. If the wheels are allowed to spin, that may damage MG2. Are your vehicles equipped with winter tires?
Yes they have Michelin x-ice 3 tires. They do me no good when the computer will not let my tires turn when I get in a lousy 10cm of undriven snow. Terrible that they have such extreme traction control with no way to shut the traction control when the car is stuck.
Hmm, 4 inches of fresh snow. I am wondering whether other Prius owners in the northern latitudes can manage this. Well, you might experiment with the use of the inspection mode, at your risk. I'm not sure you want to encourage your drivers to do this though, without you being around to watch what they do...
I have been doing it since I bought my Prius. The key here is to not be reckless with it. As long as you arent burning out, rubber smoking, ICE redlining, pedal to the floor while the tires spin at 100mph and then letting them grab dry pavement.... Using inspection mode comes with the disclaimer "at your own risk" but any reasonable adult will likely not damage anything. Ive never read here, or any of the other hybrid forums I go to about anybody ever damaging anything while using inspection mode during slippery weather. I have, however, read about many people that use it with success. Oh, and the difference is night and day with the TC off. I also have Michelin X-Ice, great tires!!! But not so great when the TC wont let the wheels move. lol.
Thanks for the info and I will give it a try next time I am stuck instead of calling for drivers to push me out when they are busy and have better things to do.
I will try it first and would be careful what drivers I tell about it -- some would take it easy but some might not.
Here on PC I've noticed at least one poster who thought it was acceptable winter driving technique to floor the accelerator pedal so that the driving wheels would dig down through the snow... That is an example of a practice that would damage MG2 pretty quickly if traction control is disengaged.
